Deeper than Words Extended
by animefreak245
Summary: A continuation of sleapyGazelle's "Deeper than Words". The leader he had fought side by side with, the man he called his uncle, took everything and everyone away from him. Even her. When he wakes up after being asleep for 10,000 years his grieving is still fresh but now he must train a rag tag team of Earthlings to be the new defenders of the universe no matter how hard it is.
1. The Calm Before the Storm

**Me: Hey guys! So not too long ago I read a fanfiction called 'Deeper than Water' by sleapyGazelle and fell in love with it. So I emailed them asking if they were planning on continuing the story and if they weren't if I could continue it for them (and myself). And they said yes! Now there are going to be parts in here that are directly from the original story and I'll make sure to point them all out. So thank you to sleapyGazelle for letting me do this, you are awesome! And thanks to thesearchingastronaut for giving them the idea for the story as well as your permission to allow me to do this!**

 _People say there is the calm before the storm. They're right in some ways. It's quiet, everyone is going along with their day, nothing out of the ordinary in sight. But those who say the old proverb is wrong about one thing._

The once lively white Altean castle roamed silently throughout the space. The halls now empty, the cooks gone, the ballroom with no music, the mice that still roamed the around were unnaturally silent today. In a room far into the castle sat a boy, a prince, not older than an Earth 17 year old, with tan skin, moon white hair, and matching blue markings underneath the deepest blue eyes one could ever see. They were once filled with joy. They were the definition of 'the eyes are the window to the soul' and yet his eyes now were only filled with nothing. No emotion could be found, as if his soul had been sucked out of his body.

Lance sat on his bed holding out a small hologram, one that is only a decapheeb old. He lets the memories of the night play in his head on a constant loop as he continues to study the digital photo. The memories, which once used to bring happiness in his life, now only stewed his bloodlust. If one were to walk into his room they would probably assume he was grieving. They wouldn't see his hands shaking as he attempts to control his strength nor would they see his deep blue eyes flicker over to where his bayard laid on his dresser. They would see a boy grieving over his lost love besides a man lusting for the blood of a once former ally.

Lance's grip tightened just thinking of the monster, unconsciously cracking the sides of the small circular projector. The man he had once proudly claimed to be his uncle. The friend he went to for guidance when he was uncomfortable talking to his father. The leader of the most powerful weapon in the universe. The dictator who declared war on the entire galaxy.

The monster who killed his chosen in cold blood.

It took everything in his power to not start crying again. Though he doesn't think he even could with how much he had since that fateful day. Instead he pushed the sadness deep within his very being along with the rest of his emotions besides the small piece of rage that was the only reason for him even being able to move. He needed to save his emotions for the right time. He needed to save his anger for whenever he was able to face his foe once and for all.

Victory or death. It was the Galra's motto and for once, the prince knew that it applied to him as well. He knew that going after Zarkon was most likely going to kill him, it's something his father had warned him about constantly, his sister pleaded for him to stop, his advisor even stepping him trying to convince him otherwise. Lance knew that even if he did kill Zarkon that it will probably be the end for him as well.

There was a sudden shift in the air. Lance didn't know how he could tell but he knew that something had changed from what it was before. The air felt thicker, like everyone was holding their breath, and it rattled him all the way down to his bones. It was quieter than Lance had ever heard anything. It made his leg want to twitch to create some sort of sound but he held himself together not daring the be the first to break the silence.

 _Before the storm is anything but calm._

He felt the explosion before he heard it. The jewelry and clothes he had laying carelessly around the room flung to the side as the castle tilted slightly from the blast, the hologram disk falling at his feet as he caught himself from face planting into his bed, the lights above him flickered in and out. The boy stood up, his eyes lighting up like a fire for once in a long time, and he darted out of his room. Bayard forgotten.

A sinister grin grew on Lance's face as he raced through the castle. Zarkon had finally arrived to deliver a (not-so) surprise attack. Lance was ready, he knew an attack on the castle was inevitable especially when most of the defenses were elsewhere warding off the majority of Zarkons forces on different worlds. He had his paladin armour ready to go in his pod to get to Blue. He only wished his father would've let him wear it besides his casual royal attire: a white long sleeved tunic with gold lining, matching trousers and shoes, and cape over his shoulders that matched his eyes. He wore very little jewlery: a golden crown sat in the middle of his forehead with a tiny blue jewel, blue stone earrings, a golden brace hugging his upper right arm, and a juniberry pin in place of his regular cape clasp. Yet he knew that his father was keeping a close eye on him so he let the argument drop after being dismissed once.

Another explosion apparently hit causing him to lose balance momentarily but he recovered quickly before he fell and kept on running.

 _"Lance."_ His father's voice rang out in his head. Honestly, Lance kept forgetting his earrings could be used for communicating since he used his armour most of the time. Lance stopped in the middle of the hallway right as another explosion hit making sure he had to grab the wall for support.

"I'm on my way to the control room, Father. I will be with you shortly." He replied just about to take off again.

 _"No, I need you to come to the med bay."_ The prince stood there perplexed. _"It's Allura." Allura? No, no, no, no, no, no._ With a new determination, the prince continued running but instead heading over to the med bay. It was just as long of a journey there as it was to the control room but instead of turning right at the training deck, he turned left. The doors opened before he could run into them to reveal the med bay. A circular room with a control panel in the middle, surrounding it was grey panels on the floor which Lance knew were hiding cryopods.

Just like the one that was holding Allura.

His sister stood in a cryopod, the glass making her look like she was bathing in blue. Her long white hair fell to a little past her chest, she wore her long sleeved white dress under a blue tunic top, matching pink marking under-what Lance knew to be-her blue eyes that reminded him of a Balmara's crystal, purple earrings, and a crown resting in the middle of her forehead that matched his own. What was truly surprising was that it looked like she didn't have a scratch on her.  
In front of Allura's pod stood King Alfor, his father, in his Altean armour filled with gold and white, matching blue marking under his blue eyes, and a cape just a shade lighter than Lance's sat on his shoulders. He looked very intimidating to everyone, including his son who knew his father to be very nice and gentle. But now was not the time for him to be Lance's father. Now was the time for him to be Altea's king.

Next to Alfor stood Coran. A man only a few years younger than Alfor, with bright orange hair, a matching mustache, matching blue markings under his blue eyes wearing his usual dark blue suit. Both men watched as Lance stumble his way towards them as the explosions outside of the castle became more frequent with grave faces.

"W-what happened?" Lance croaked out once he was able to reach them.

"When Zarkon first started attacking Allura fell at hit her head." Alfor explained sadness seeping into his voice. Lance found that strange but did not think much on it.

"What's her status?"

"She'll be fine. But there was another reason why I asked you here." Lance stood up straighter, knowing his father's 'King' voice when he heard it. "Our shields won't hold for much longer and when they go there is no doubt that Zarkon will board the castle. I plan on making sure that does not happen by going to his ship myself while Coran brings you and Allura to a nearby planet." Lance's eyes widened as his father continued. "The lions have been sent away and I am planning on making Zarkon believe I had destroyed them-"

"Woah, woah, woah, woah!" Lance interrupted waving his hands in front of him. The rage he had built up earlier started to surface once again as he replayed Alfor's words in his head. "You cannot seriously think that I will calmly sit by while you go after Zarkon. No one's blade but mine should be able to taste his blood." Alfor and Coran shared a concerned look before turning back to the fuming boy.

"I'm afraid you have no choice in the matter." Lance couldn't get a word out before Alfor zapped his temple almost immediately bring darkness upon him. "I love you, son."

The first thing he felt was the icy chill of the healing pod mixing with the outside air as the pod opened. The memories of that night quickly infiltrated his head waking him up instantly not realizing he was falling over until a pair of arms wrapped around his waist and he landed on a hard chest. It took a second for him to gather his bearings before looking up and his eyes meeting a pair of greyish purple ones.

 **Me: That's it for the first chapter! I'm thinking of changing the name just a little bit just so people can tell the difference between the two. But tell me what y'all think! Honestly I am in LOVE with this chapter and I really hope you are too because this is my first Klance fic that I'm actually posting on and AO3. Plus I spent like two hours listening to depressing piano music so I could get a feel for what I wanted in the beginning. Please don't leave flames on my stories, constructive criticism is highly appreciated and will be taken into account but if someone comments with "this story sucks ass" or what not I will flame you right back. I love you guys 3 !**


	2. Awakening

**Hello! Happy to see you here at the second chapter! One thing I want say before we get this on our way is that not all of this is going to be rewrites of the show. I want to make that** _ **extremely**_ **clear. Now that's not to say that this story isn't going to have rewrites of episodes, because there are, but most of the story is going to be the paladins time outside of battle and missions. For one, battle scenes are basically on the top of my "Needs Improvement' list. And two, I want to focus more on how the characters interact with each other. So...yeah….just so you guys are aware…I'm also not too crazy about how I ended this chapter but I felt that it was the best stopping point. Anyway, .LET'S GET ON WITH THE STORY!**

"Kaya?" Lance whispered hopefully only to realize afterwards that the color of this person's hair was nowhere near the shade of hers. Luckily, it seemed as though whoever was holding him in his arms did not hear the name as he gave no acknowledgement. All of a sudden the rage that he had built up for himself started seeping through the mental bottle he had created for himself. His father had knocked him out, ridding himself of the revenge he so craved, and now the stranger in front of him has the same eyes that haunted his dreams. A bright eyed girl with long reddish blonde hair wearing red and white armour with pride. The prince narrowed his eyes, grabbing one of the stranger's wrists and turned him around so that his back was against his chest with the now trapped wrist being the only thing separating them, he wrapped his arm around the boy's neck probably a little tighter than was necessary, and spoke louder in his most commanding voice. "Where is my father? Who are you? How did you break into my castle?"

"Lance!" A familiar voice cried sealing the bottle shut once more. Lance had only slightly lessened his hold on the body pressed against him but that's all it took for the boy to sweep one of his feet from under him, making the blue paladin lose balance slightly, and pushed him away. Lance heeded him no mind as he turned to see Allura being held up by another man-one that tall and very muscular, short black hair with a white tuff at the end, a scar on the bridge of his nose, and one of his hands being prosthetic. It was obvious Galra technology but if Lance had a guess, he would say that the man currently wasn't a threat….at least in the violent sense. He wore a tight grey shirt underneath a zipped up black vest, black pants tucked into black boots, and a fingerless glove on his flesh hand. He was definitely the best looking man Lance had ever seen.

"A-Allura?" His voice obviously cracked scanning her for any injuries. "You're okay?" She nodded in confirmation giving him a shy smile.

"I'm sorry we scared you earlier," the muscular man spoke up turning to Lance. "Unfortunately...we don't know what you're talking about. How about we start over and we can see if we can help out in some way? Maybe you can tell us your names." Allura and Lance stepped to each other still facing the man.

"I am Princess Allura," Allura stated going into her formal voice "the man behind me is my brother Prince Lance. How did you break into our castle?"

"A-a giant yellow robotic lion brought us here!" Another voice called out. The siblings turned to see the three others that were in the room with them. The person who spoke was a big man with tan skin, an orange strip of fabric adoring his forehead, wearing a yellow shirt under a green vest, tan pants tucked into white boots, and green fingerless gloves. Beside him stood a much shorter person with unruly brown hair, round glasses, a green and white long sleeved shirt with a high collar, grey shorts, and red shoes. In the shadows behind them stood the man Lance had in a choke hold before still rubbing his neck and glaring in their direction. The boy was probably just a hair shorter than Lance, long black hair that just reached the base of his slender neck, wearing a black shirt under a red and white jacket that to the siblings looked like it was missing the bottom half, black pants that were tucked into red and white boots, fingerless gloves, and a belt with a pack on the side.

"How did you get the yellow lion? What happened to Gyrgan?" Lance asked trying control his temper as well as an oncoming headache from so much information coming all at once. The short one with glasses looked over to the boy with the orange fabric mouthing the name, but the boy only shrugged. The prince looked over to the man with the prosthetic-almost certain that he was the commander of the group and asked again with his anger and fear evident in his voice. "What happened to the paladin of the yellow lion?" The man didn't have time to answer as Allura looked over to him with her eyes wide open, fear written all over her face.

"I'm going to check how long we've been asleep." She said running over to the control panel. Lance was going to continue his questioning when he heard the familiar sound of a cryopod opening. He turned around to see a familiar sight of orange take a step out of the chamber. It didn't take him long to notice the four strangers.

"The castle's been breached!" He screeched trying to do a flying kick to the leader who dodged easily making him land right in front of the prince. "P-Prince Lance!" He quickly stood up giving him a small bow and nervous laugh. "It is good to see you up and about. I trust you are feeling well." Lance crossed his arms giving him a glare. "Or….or not?"

"Coran," He was about to start on a long lecture about earning back his trust when he heard Allura's sharp gasp. The two Alteans turned around seeing the princess staring at the holographic screen with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Fear started pumping through both of them knowing that Allura wouldn't start crying unless something truly terrible had happened. "Allura?" She didn't respond. "Allura!" She shook her head, not say anything as she ran into her brother's arms and burying her head in his chest. Almost by habit, one hand rested on her back while the other combed through her hair. He could feel her start to say something but he stopped her chuckling nervously. "You're mumbling again. I can't understand a word you're saying."

"Ten thousand years." She said with her arms tightening around his waist again that it was starting to become uncomfortable. "We've been asleep for ten thousand years. Father, Altea, our whole entire system has been destroyed." Hearing those words it felt as though all the emotions Lance had bottled up somehow disappeared entirely. Allura kept speaking but he couldn't hear anything anymore. Everything he had fought for, everything he had loved, his father, Kaya, is all gone. In his mind he remembered his father's intimidating looks and soft smiles, how every single Altean admired him, how he would always bring them to the juniberry festival even after their mother died, how much he admired his father when he was the red lion's paladin, and how much love he gave to his family.

Kaya, the woman he loved with everything he had, who had worked from the bottom to being the one the red lion chose to be it's new paladin, who Lance had respected from the moment he saw her and worked everyday to make sure she respected him as well, who once had a legacy for being kind hearted to even the mightiest foe, who tried not to kill as much as possible because she believed that every life was worth something, now was most likely not even known as a fairytale.

If it wasn't for Allura's strong grip on him, he was sure he would've collapsed onto the floor. He truly had no words to speak. He knew she was talking about Zarkon, but even his name brought no emotion to the surface. He just stood there with his arms around Allura, his hand stopped in the middle of her hair, and tears filling his eyes. He didn't hear when Allura stopped talking or when Coran began and he hardly felt it when Coran joined their hug.

Cause the only thing that was bouncing around in Lance's head were, _I failed._

Lance sat at the top of the stairs of the ballroom, having excused himself from the med bay about a varga ago. Memories floated through his mind: his mother teaching him how to dance, his first ball, his birthday celebrations, anything his mind to come up with to bring some sort of emotion. He sighed putting his head in his hands still trying to wrap his mind around...everything. In a span of what felt like a day he went from accepting that he was going to die in battle to finding out that his entire world is quite literally destroyed. And apparently Zarkon was still alive. He had taken Shiro as his prisoner and Coran had gone through the calls brought into the castle throughout their time asleep only to find out that most of the planets in the universe had been attacked by the Galra. The 'humans' had no knowledge of the war whatsoever and only found the yellow lion by accident. Allura told them that she will try to get them home as quick as possible but Lance had a feeling it was going to be a lot longer than they would prefer. It was too much information coming in at once so Lance made a hasty retreat at the first chance he saw.

"E-excuse me," A voice startled him from his thoughts. Lance's head whipped out from his hands, turning to the boy with the orange fabric on his head who was rubbing his neck with one of his hands. Out of all the humans that arrived, he liked this one the best. He seemed a little nervous at first but had a nice soothing aura about him. One that kept everyone grounded. Protected. The boy gave him a nervous smile that he wasn't ready to return. "You're Prince Lance, right? I'm Hunk."

"Pleasure," He mumbled turning back to the ballroom. It was a matter of a couple moments before 'Hunk' spoke again.

"Mind if I sit next to you?" The prince shrugged, not really caring at that point since it seemed as though he was probably not going to leave anyway. Hunk sat next to him staring out to the room as well. They didn't say anything for a bit, both lost in the awkward silence. "I'm sorry about what happened to your people. I know it doesn't mean much, and I know talking about it won't be able to bring them back, but if you….if you do want to talk about it than I'm willing to listen. If anything else I've been told I give out amazing hugs." _What's the point about talking about it if he knows it won't bring them back? What is there even to say?_ "How about you tell me what your father was like? From what we saw earlier it seems like you three were really close to him."

 _I love you, son._

"My father…." Lance started not even realizing when he decided to share "he was the strongest man I have ever known, he was also one of the kindest. He met my mother when he was around my age and they immediately fell for each other. Not long afterwards they got married and it was only a matter of time before Allura and I were born. No matter how busy he was, he always made time for us, especially after mother died from a plague that was going around our system at the time. He was a natural charmer and a bit of a goofball, something that everyone had said I inherited from him. Every planet he saved, every person he helped, they would always say how kind he was and how he would do anything to make sure to do everything in his power to protect the innocent which is why the red lion chose him to be the original paladin. I wanted nothing more than to be just like him when I was a child."

"He sounds like a great man."

"He was. And now he's gone." Lance's voice cracked saying those words. "He's gone." The tears that he held back before had now resurfaced and slid down his face. He couldn't hold them back and he didn't want to. Not anymore. He curled himself into a ball with his knees pressed to his chest and elbows resting on them as he holds his head. A pair of hands grabbed his waist and pulled him into a hug. Hunk let him cry as hard and loud as he wanted while rubbing small circles on his side. All the emotions, the ones he sealed up in a bottle a long time ago finally spilled out.

He didn't know how much time had passed before the tears had stopped. How much time had passed before his breathing returned to somewhat normal. But no matter how much time had passed, the hollowness in himself would not go away. Nor would the guilt or self hatred.

"I should've been there with him." He mumbled not caring if it was loud enough for Hunk to hear. "I should've been there with him at the end but I wasn't. He put me in the chamber because I was so caught up in my head."

"If he didn't put you in that chamber than you would've died too. I don't know you but I know that you care about Allura. I think both of us know that you would've felt so much guiltier leaving her alone to deal with this. Your father made his choice to battle Zarkon alone in order to make sure you two have each other to lean on. If there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that all of you are going to get through this. Pidge, Shiro, Keith, and I will help out in anyway we can while we figure out how to get back to Earth. Okay?" Lance took a deep breath in before turning his head a little bit seeing Hunk's determined face. He let out a weak chuckle before nodding, not trusting himself to speak just yet. The boy smiled giving his side a quick squeeze. "Do you want to go meet the others or do you need a few more minutes?"

"I'm fine now." Hunk nodded letting him go saying something about wanting to being a good idea to wash his face or something as he stood up. "Hunk." The boy stopped quirking an eyebrow in a silent question. Lance gave him a small smile. It was sad but genuine. "Thanks." The other boy nodded giving him a pat on the shoulder before going to tell the others he was only going to be a few more minutes.

Once Lance deemed himself presentable he started making his way to the control room with a forced smile creeping up on his face. Walking through the castle was like a whole different experience now. When he was a kid, he never felt as though it was haunted but now….

Now he see the maids rush past as they go to clean a mess he made. Some he sees straightening something that was perfect to begin with or passing by giving him a small bow. The butlers stand tall with a platter of food he can just about smell. His governess waiting for him at the training desk with a small smile and the same lecture about him running late on his lessons. The cooks children running around as he passes the kitchen and their parents staring at them fondly or telling them to behave themselves. Sometimes he sees his father.

One time he's sitting at the dining room talking to the former paladins, and the others are around the castle hallways talking to a random servant about their day. Making sure that everyone was happy as long as they were here. It clenches his heart with guilt every time. Guilt because he knew he didn't have the best relationship with his father at the end. And it was all his fault.

He didn't want to think about his sudden change in mood or the fact that he just poured his heart out to a complete stranger who he pretty much threatened only a few vargas ago. Truthfully he was still angry about his father denying him his revenge, his bloodthirstiness was nowhere near quenched from his long sleep. No. If anything, after learning that Zarkon had taken quite literally everything from him, it had grown stronger than ever. Some twisted part of him was happy that his father was not able to kill the Galra emperor because it just meant that he still had a chance. He can still have his revenge.

With that in mind he finally reached the control room. It was a pretty good size with holographic glass on the side so when the castle was powered up people can see in and out of it, Coran's central command station sat in front of a platform in the middle underneath the giant Balmaran crystal. Lance knew that when it was called upon, two stands would rise allowing the pilot to fly the whole castle, just like he knew that there were the paladins' stations next to and in front of the platform that would rise when called. One for each paladin. On each side of the main door were two chambers that the paladins would use to reach their respected lion's hangers.

"I can't believe it," Allura's voice rang out amazed. Lance raised an eyebrow turning to where she was. She stood by one of the holographic windows with the humans and Coran holding up something too small for him to tell from where he stood. "How did they even survive?" Coran looked like he was going to answer when something…...squeaked? "I can hear them talking to me! He says that they were in the sleeping chamber with me."

"Amazing," The small human cooed leaning towards whatever Allura held. "A healing chamber that allows mind melding if more than one being is in there for a prolonged area of time. Can you hear one of the mice or all of them?" _Did he just say 'mice'?_ Allura looked back at her hands, squeaking reached Lance's ears again.

"All of them."

"Interesting. I wonder how that's possible."

"Out of everyone that could've survived from Altea, it just had to be the mice." Lance groaned finally making his presence known. Allura turned to him with a glare that he was quick to match. Lance walked over to the group not taking his eyes off of Allura until he reached them and looked down to see the four mice he knew all too well. "Hello, troublemakers. OW-Allura! Don't kick me!"

"They are not troublemakers," She argued pulling the mice in like they were her children. He rolled his eyes not even going to attempt to argue with her. _They are going to be even worse now that Allura can understand what they're saying._

"Whatever, but if I find another item of my clothing with rips in them then I'm stopping their monthly bathes." He heard the others chuckle but he paid them no mind, not when Allura had a small smile on her face as well. _Maybe Hunk was right about one thing. I'm gonna make sure that she's okay before I face Zarkon._

"You give them bathes?" The red jacket boy asked both disbelieving and amused.

"Got a problem with that?" Before they could go any further Hunk stepped in giving Lance a small smile.

"Nope, nope, he's fine with that." Hunk interrupted hastily. "I guess it's about time to introduce you to everyone! So over here is Shiro." He pointed over to the leader who gave him a soft smile and a nod. "Then we have Pidge." The short one with the glasses who shook his hand. "And then Keith." Red jacket boy who only glared at him which Lance was only too happy to return. He didn't stay glaring at the boy for long though as Allura started talking again.

"I know you all are waiting for your chance to go home," She stated "unfortunately we do not have the capacity to do that right now. Until we do you are more than welcome to stay at our castle."

"We would be honored to, Princess." Shiro stated giving her a small smile. Keith and Lance looked at each other each thinking the same thing.

 _An undisclosed amount of time living with this guy? Fan-freaking-tastic._

 **Well the second chapter is finally done! Now I know that it's a little weird having the first episode being multiple chapters, but I really wanted to make sure that it went at (what I believe to be) a natural pace. So in the next chapter I will have Allura talk about Voltron and will possibly have Sendak start making his way towards Arus. I hope you guys liked this chapter. I'm hoping to have the next one up within the new few days depending on somethings I have going on right now. Once again, constructive criticism is appreciated. Flames will be flames right back. And I love you guys!**

 **If anyone has any ideas for what I should change the name to, please comment with your suggestions!**

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 **Twitter is: /Anime_Freak245**


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